Product Reviews

Over the course of the past few years, I’ve reviewed a number of products. Most of them, it’s simply because I went out and bought the product and gave it a whirl. In some cases, it’s because a company sent me their product to review. I differentiate within each review how I came about the product. I tend to be super-detailed in my reviews – some might even say over the top. That’s just my style, leave no stone unturned! If you have any questions about any of my reviews, feel free to leave a comment at the end of each post.

Not sure which watch to get? Start with my product comparison tool, which will help you narrow it down and compare features.

While there are many power meter options being touted these days, it’s a different matter to actually get something shipped to consumers. And to do something that’s accurate and trusted (as well as reliable). It’s been a couple of years now … Read More Here →

It’s been about 8 months since 4iiii began shipping their Precision power meters to buyers, which is a small pod affixed to your crank arm. When the company announced their entrance into the market in September 2014, they had planned … Read More Here →

Last Friday while on the way to the airport from Kananaskis (in the mountains for the ANT+ Symposium) to Calgary I swung by the 4iiii headquarters in Cochrane. The time I had was rather limited, as I was super time-boxed … Read More Here →

4iiii’s has kicked off what will be a frenzy of power meter activity here at Interbike this week. In doing so, as the post headline implies, they’ve jumped onboard with the plans to further drive the price of power meters … Read More Here →

A bit under a year ago 4iiii’s announced the first device on the market to bridge the gap between ANT+ accessories and Bluetooth Smart enabled phones. In doing so, they potentially opened up the door to saving users from having … Read More Here →

It’s been almost a year to the day since we first heard about a small company called 4iiii, which aims to bring a heads up display system to a pair of sunglasses near you. Over the past year they’ve been … Read More Here →

Ahh yes, gimbals. It’s the magic that makes your average footage look beautiful. It’s what keeps shaky stuff from being unusable, and what makes selfie-sticks feel like a simple tree branch. You might remember last year I did a review … Read More Here →

Today Garmin jumped into the 360° fray by introducing their own 360° action camera – the VIRB 360. This camera one-ups everyone in the specs department by mic-dropping 5.7K resolution alongside being completely waterproofed with GPS built-in. Not to mention … Read More Here →

In virtually every post or video I make where I use an action cam, I’m asked which camera I’m using and why. And even more commonly since this past fall I’m asked whether to go with the GoPro Hero5 Black … Read More Here →

While the widely held assumption this year was that the GoPro Karma drone would be the hottest drone to get one's hands on, it’s quickly become clear over the last 75 days that wouldn’t quite pan out. A mere 7 … Read More Here →

It’s been two years since the last major GoPro Hero launch. No, I don’t count the Session last year. I’m talking about a multi-camera launch like GoPro has typically done each fall for the majority of its history. Back in … Read More Here →

Update: Go see my full GoPro Hero5 Black In-Depth Review here! Today GoPro announced three new action cameras, a drone, and a rather interesting flotilla of accessories. These include a handheld gimbal, external microphone/remote combos, and even a nifty $19 … Read More Here →

Last week, Garmin announced and released their newest action cam – the VIRB Ultra 30. To summarize this 50-million word in-depth review in the most succinct manner possible: Someone at Garmin finally got it. They created what might possibly best … Read More Here →

It’s been over a year since Cycliq first introduced their Fly12 combo bike light and HD camera. While the road to shipping was certainly longer and bumpier than the company wanted, they started shipping units to customers last month. You’ll … Read More Here →

It’s the all-seeing action camera in-depth review. Or at least, the mostly seeing action camera in-depth review While I’ve talked about 360° action cameras a bit over the last year or so, it hasn’t been until now that they’re actually … Read More Here →

Every once in a while in the DCR Review Realm I go ahead and pull out a slightly longer review cycle. This would be one of those times. In this case, I’ve used the Garmin VIRB X & XE action … Read More Here →

I know, approximately 97% of you are looking at the title right now and going “Who the fudge is Feiyu Tech?” And then about 65% of you are saying “What the heck is a gimbal?” (and is it related to a gumball?). Fear … Read More Here →

Just as last year was the year of the drone at CES, this year there is a lot of buzz about virtual reality. Lots of news surrounding bunches of new VR headsets. And to do VR, you need 360. As … Read More Here →

Sony has announced a new action camera, the HDR-AS50, coming in at a baseline $199. The real news here is that Sony actually has listened to customer complaints (or suggestions as they like to call them) and then made some useful improvements … Read More Here →

It’s been about almost three months since GoPro announced their Hero4 Session action cam. The unit made headlines due to its small size compared to existing GoPro units. Yet this past Monday, they made the logical decision to drop the price … Read More Here →

Today GoPro announced its latest action camera, the GoPro HERO+ LCD. This marks the first time GoPro has done an ‘off-cycle’ release of a new camera product, as the company has historically released new action cams in the September/October timeframe. … Read More Here →

Today TomTom has announced they’re venturing into the action cam business, with the introduction of the TomTom Bandit. This Twinkie sized action cam contains 2.7K (30FPS) and 4K (15FPS) capabilities, as well as GPS functionality that you’d expect from a … Read More Here →

There’s been a ton of interest as of late in using drones within sports. This interest comes from many different angles. First is the more traditional approach of simply using the unmanned aerial vehicle as a platform for videography and … Read More Here →

The ability to stream in real time (live) video footage from action cams remains a bit of the holy grail of sports action. Today, 99.99% of what you see on TV is done via broadcast quality cameras and equipment, with … Read More Here →

Last week at CES Sony announced their latest action cam, the Sony FDR-X1000V, which is capable of shooting 4K video. They also updated their HDR-AS camera line with a new 200V version (HDR-AS200V). These came as a surprise to approximately … Read More Here →

°° Giroptic was on-hand last night at the CES Unveiled event showing off their 360° action camera which had debuted on Kickstarter this past summer to very strong backer support. The action camera is somewhat a descendent of previous attempts … Read More Here →

(Note: Review updated March 10th, 2015, inclusive of most recent firmware updates) Early last month GoPro completed their annual October ritual of releasing a suite of new units. Like past years, GoPro doesn’t tend to make massive upgrades in their … Read More Here →

Today at Eurobike K-Edge had on hand a number of their just announced mounts, the most interesting being a new combo mount adapter that holds both your GoPro (or other action cam), as well as your Garmin bike computer. Beyond … Read More Here →

Well known bike light maker Knog was demonstrating their newest bike light at Outdoor Retailer this week – the Qudos. This new light is relevant around these parts as it combines onto a single mount both a bike light and … Read More Here →

In what may seem like a sea of Fitbit models, the Fitbit Alta HR attempts to strike the balance between what folks want as a straightforward activity tracker, while making some nods towards basic workout support. I’ve been wearing a … Read More Here →

Just over a week ago Polar announced their latest wearable – the Polar A370. This new unit took the hardware of the Polar A360 that was released about 18 months ago and plopped in a few new features like continuous … Read More Here →

Heads up - February 2017! Looking for the Apple Watch Series 2 In-Depth Review? Swing on over to that page here! Ahh yes, the long awaited Apple Watch for Fitness In-Depth Review. I’ve now spent almost 10 months with the … Read More Here →

Today Fitbit announced their latest activity tracker – the Fitbit Alta. This unit is effectively a replacement for the existing Fitbit Charge (or previous to that, the Force). However, unlike those, this unit sports smartphone notifications, move reminders, and the ability … Read More Here →

This past fall Microsoft released their second activity tracker, the Microsoft Band 2 – near exactly one year after they released the original Microsoft Band. This new Band tweaks the sizing a bit and cleans up much of the exterior … Read More Here →

Back about two months ago, Garmin announced their first wrist activity tracker (non-watch) with optical HR capabilities, the Vivosmart HR. The Vivosmart HR was designed to build upon the release of the Vivosmart a year earlier. Essentially it’s a daily … Read More Here →

As expected the early part of CES week saw a lot of new product announcements. There are lots of new players on the field with some innovative new products (and some obvious knock-offs and re-makes of existing technologies); but also … Read More Here →

Today Under Armour has announced a flotilla of fitness products, likely to take the cake for the most unique fitness products announced by one company at the show this week. They’ve done so by partnering with HTC and delivering a … Read More Here →

Update - March 2016! I've published my full Fitbit Blaze In-Depth Review here! Swing on over for all the details after extensive use! Today at CES Fitbit announced their latest wearable, the Fitbit Blaze. This new unit is effectively a … Read More Here →

It’s been about a month since Polar announced their latest wearable – the A360. This would be their first entrant into the optical HR sensor world, a key milestone for a company that’s effectively built its entire reputation and company … Read More Here →

It’s been well over a year since Withings released their initial Activité smart watch, which they then followed up last winter with the cheaper Activité Pop version. Of course – looking at both watches at a glance you wouldn’t realize … Read More Here →

I just wanted to very briefly cover two new products that have been announced in the last 24 hours. Neither one really warrants a standalone post – especially since neither company has samples available on-hand (or rather, in my hands). … Read More Here →

Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Garmin announced a slew of wearable devices including the new Vivoactive. The Vivoactive was designed as a merger between Garmin’s mid-range fitness watches (i.e. the FR220) and the … Read More Here →

It’s been a few months now since Fitbit announced and then subsequently released their Fitbit Charge and Charge HR units. At the same time, they announced the Fitbit Surge GPS (which I’ve already reviewed here). For this post though, we’ll … Read More Here →

It’s been a few months since Fitbit announced a trio of products, including their first GPS watch – the Fitbit Surge. This joined two other activity trackers, the Fitbit Charge and Charge HR within the announcement (my review of the … Read More Here →

This past summer Mio announced two new products to their lineup – the Mio Fuse and the Mio Velo. These products just recently started shipping in the past few weeks, giving me an opportunity to use the final hardware and … Read More Here →

When the Basis Peak was announced earlier this fall it was designed to fill in the gaps as well as build upon their previous product, the Basis B1, that was released about 2 years ago. The Basis watch has always … Read More Here →

Today at IFA, the giant consumer-electronics focused show in Berlin, Garmin announced their latest activity monitor, the Vivosmart. This unit builds upon the Vivofit that was released earlier this year with additional features and tighter smartphone integration. I had a … Read More Here →

In keeping with the popular trend of adding activity monitoring to devices, back in April Garmin announced their latest running watch – the Forerunner 15 (FR15). This would take their popular FR10 budget-focused GPS running watch and then combine it … Read More Here →

Back in January Garmin decided to join the activity tracker fray and announced two related products: Vivofit and Vivoki. Vivofit would be the standard consumer-focused 24x7 activity tracker, while Vivoki would be focused on corporate wellness and primarily targeted at … Read More Here →

The Polar Loop is the very first daily activity tracker on the market that not only counts steps, but also connects to a separate heart rate strap – providing you with heart-rate based calorie information for activities. This changes the … Read More Here →

Almost a year ago Withings announced the Withings Pulse activity tracker at CES 2013. However, it wasn’t made available until this past summer, when I started testing it. Like most activity trackers it did all the usual items – steps, … Read More Here →

Here’s a fun fact to start out with: The FitBit Zip is actually probably the only product where I’ve written the review after over a year of use with the device. Well, two devices actually. But, more on what happened … Read More Here →

The Basis B1 watch represents the first fitness tracker on the market to do 24x7 continuous heart rate monitoring (all without a heart rate strap), in addition to all of the usual metrics like a step-counter and sleep. Adding to … Read More Here →

Adidas has just announced their latest sports and fitness focused device – the Fit Smart. The unit features optical heart rate recognition from your wrist via an embedded Mio optical sensor, while supplementing that data in conjunction with accelerometer data … Read More Here →

It’s been about 8 months since the first Bluetooth Smart footpod popped out into the market, introduced by Polar shortly after the release of their Polar Beat app. However, while it technically worked just fine, it lacked one thing: Elegance. … Read More Here →

This past October Adidas announced their Smart Run GPS unit to the world, introducing the first optical heart rate watch with a GPS sensor combined into it. While Adidas has been in the sports technology arena for some time with … Read More Here →

When the Basis Peak was announced earlier this fall it was designed to fill in the gaps as well as build upon their previous product, the Basis B1, that was released about 2 years ago. The Basis watch has always … Read More Here →

Earlier this week while in Las Vegas for CES I had the chance to meet up with the founder of Bia, the only womens focused GPS watch on the market. Cheryl Kellond and I met me at the UNLV track … Read More Here →

While it’s traditional that most European trainer companies announced their new wares at Eurobike, Spain-based Bkool decided to eschew that for a few more weeks of prep and then launch their new trainer products at Interbike instead. Unfortunately, that didn’t … Read More Here →

BKOOL is here at Eurobike this week and has pushed out a number of updates (both software and hardware), one of which will definitely make (most) existing owners quite happy. As a brief refresher Bkool has historically been one of … Read More Here →

The BKOOL trainer is unique in the market in a number of ways. It marks the first trainer I’ve reviewed that includes an all-you-can-eat flat-rate approach to riding videos shot outdoors, while indoors. It’s also the first resistance controlled computerized … Read More Here →

The Bryton Cardio 60 is an interesting relatively unknown nugget on the triathlon watch scene. It’s interesting because it’s one of the few (if only?) multisport GPS watches that’s not actually offered in North America. But outside of that scope, there’s … Read More Here →

It’s Hammer Time. The Hammer is CycleOps’ answer to the highly competitive high-end direct drive trainer realm. Or said differently, it’s their answer to the KICKR. It feels like an eternity ago that the Hammer was announced. In reality though, … Read More Here →

Today CycleOps has announced their latest trainer product, the Hammer. Taking a cue from others in the industry on having a catchy name, the Hammer is CycleOps’s first totally new trainer in a few years. And also their first direct … Read More Here →

Back this spring PowerTap for the first time announced a power meter that wasn’t in the rear wheel hub. Well, they actually announced two new power meters. The first was the PowerTap P1, which is a pedal based power meter, … Read More Here →

While the CycleOps PowerBeam Pro has been around a while, their entertainment and training software – Virtual Training – just came out late last year. I’ve been using beta versions on and off since last spring, and with the final … Read More Here →

While the CycleOps PowerBeam Pro may be two years old, it’s one of the very few trainers on the market that allows specific wattage resistance control. Meaning, you can set it for a given wattage – i.e. 200w, and it’ll … Read More Here →

Last year when Saris/CycleOps came out with their ANT+ enabled Joule, many wondered how it would stack up against the competition. Would a non-GPS enabled device still be able to compete in an increasingly GPS dominated world? And how would … Read More Here →

Last week Airdog announced their latest sports-tracking drone, the Airdog ADII. Years ago the company announced on Kickstarter their first drone, simply called Airdog, which was aimed 100% at the sports tracking market. It didn’t pretend to be a more … Read More Here →

While at ISPO a few days ago, I got the chance to take out the new Staaker drone for a spin. This drone is much like AirDog that I’ve reviewed previously, in that it focuses exclusively on sports action filming. … Read More Here →

While the widely held assumption this year was that the GoPro Karma drone would be the hottest drone to get one's hands on, it’s quickly become clear over the last 75 days that wouldn’t quite pan out. A mere 7 … Read More Here →

(Update: Feb 1st, 2017: GoPro has resumed shipping of the Karma drone following it's earlier recall. There is no difference between the pre and post-recall drones from a hardware or software features standpoint, except changes to the battery clip to … Read More Here →

Update: Go see my full GoPro Hero5 Black In-Depth Review here! Today GoPro announced three new action cameras, a drone, and a rather interesting flotilla of accessories. These include a handheld gimbal, external microphone/remote combos, and even a nifty $19 … Read More Here →

Like most Kickstarter projects, it’s been a much longer road than anticipated to get their product off the ground. But unlike most Kickstarter projects, AirDog literally needed to get off the ground and into the air to be successful. It … Read More Here →

There’s been a ton of interest as of late in using drones within sports. This interest comes from many different angles. First is the more traditional approach of simply using the unmanned aerial vehicle as a platform for videography and … Read More Here →

Earlier this summer Elite announced the Direto, a direct drive trainer that’s fully integrated into the likes of Zwift and TrainerRoad. Priced at $899 it was initially targeted at the mid-range price market, but over the course of the last … Read More Here →

Today Elite announced their newest trainer for the 2017-2018 winter trainer season – the Direto. This direct drive controllable trainer is notable partly for its price ($899), but also partly because it’s sporting easily the highest accuracy rating of any … Read More Here →

Earlier this summer Elite launched four new trainers/rollers, and in doing so greatly simplified their trainer lineup. Previous to that they had enough trainers to allow each member of the Brady Bunch both a primary and backup trainer. Never mind … Read More Here →

Over the last 8-9 months, Epson has introduced a number of fitness wearables into the market. While that might seem odd for a company known primarily for printers, one need only remember that Epson is part of the Seiko Epson … Read More Here →

When FINIS announced the new Neptune swimming MP3 player two months ago I was skeptical. I was pretty happy with the previous generation – the SwiMP3. It was smaller, and and thus for most swimmers, that’s a critical selling point. … Read More Here →

This past summer I started a swimming MP3 player test, one that I feel I can finally conclude. I ended up buying just about every popular swimming MP3 player on the market, and then started testing them – one after … Read More Here →

While my pool time has been severely restricted lately with all the international travel, I did get a short opportunity to jump into the pool with the Swimsense while up in Newfoundland. For those not familiar, Swimsense is like having … Read More Here →

Last month Fitbit announced their latest device – the Fitbit Ionic. This would be a significant step forward for the company, as it would represent them stepping into a slightly different (and higher end) market. While it was previously difficult … Read More Here →

In what may seem like a sea of Fitbit models, the Fitbit Alta HR attempts to strike the balance between what folks want as a straightforward activity tracker, while making some nods towards basic workout support. I’ve been wearing a … Read More Here →

It’s been a bit over two months since Fitbit announced their latest wearables, the Fitbit Charge 2 and the Fitbit Flex 2 (they also announced some Blaze updates and Alta bands at that time). This review however is purely focused … Read More Here →

It’s been a touch over two months since Fitbit announced their most recent wearable, the Fitbit Alta. Like all of Fitbit’s entrants this year, it was designed to be more fashion focused, while giving incremental upgrades in terms of features … Read More Here →

Almost exactly two months ago at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Fitbit announced their latest higher-end wearable, the Fitbit Blaze. The company positioned it as a smart fitness watch, aiming to offer something midway between the higher-end … Read More Here →

Today Fitbit announced their latest activity tracker – the Fitbit Alta. This unit is effectively a replacement for the existing Fitbit Charge (or previous to that, the Force). However, unlike those, this unit sports smartphone notifications, move reminders, and the ability … Read More Here →

Connected scales are all the rage these days. And for good reason – they make it easy to log your weight. More importantly though, they make it hard to pretend nothing happened. So as you rolled out of bed this … Read More Here →

It’s been a few months now since Fitbit announced and then subsequently released their Fitbit Charge and Charge HR units. At the same time, they announced the Fitbit Surge GPS (which I’ve already reviewed here). For this post though, we’ll … Read More Here →

It’s been a few months since Fitbit announced a trio of products, including their first GPS watch – the Fitbit Surge. This joined two other activity trackers, the Fitbit Charge and Charge HR within the announcement (my review of the … Read More Here →

Here’s a fun fact to start out with: The FitBit Zip is actually probably the only product where I’ve written the review after over a year of use with the device. Well, two devices actually. But, more on what happened … Read More Here →

Hold on, I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t the Forerunner 30 come out last year? Nope, that was the Forerunner 35. At which point you’re wondering how we’re going back in numbers – but that’s just how the cards fell … Read More Here →

A few weeks ago as part of Garmin’s trifecta announcement of new Vivo-labeled products, they announced the Vivosport (along with the Vivomove HR and Vivoactive 3). In many ways the Vivosport got overlooked as it lacked the fashionista flashiness of … Read More Here →

Over the course of the summer we’ve seen both Garmin and Favero roll out new pedal power meters. In Garmin’s case they’ve got their third generation Vector 3 pedals, while in Favero’s case they have their Assioma units, which are … Read More Here →

Sometimes, beauty is only skin deep. And unfortunately in the case of the Vivomove HR – that’s never been more true. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The Vivomove HR is the second iteration of Garmin’s dabble … Read More Here →

Today Garmin announced a swath of new Vivo-branded wearable devices. You’ve got the Vivoactive 3, which I’m covering here – but also the Vivomove HR and Vivosport, which you’ll see in another post. Those two are updates of the existing … Read More Here →

Today Garmin announced their third generation of power meters, Vector 3. This new unit brings sweeping changes both easily seen outside, but also internally as well. In fact, I’d argue the internal changes are far more important than the new … Read More Here →

After over three years, Garmin has updated its flagship GPS navigation computer with a new edition – the Edge 1030. This new large-screen style unit features a longer battery life along with a new external battery pack option. Not only … Read More Here →

Today Garmin jumped into the 360° fray by introducing their own 360° action camera – the VIRB 360. This camera one-ups everyone in the specs department by mic-dropping 5.7K resolution alongside being completely waterproofed with GPS built-in. Not to mention … Read More Here →

Today, Garmin introduced their latest generation front bike light – the UT800. This light builds upon the connected concepts from their first generation lights, such as integration with their head units. With the UT800 though, the company has shifted the … Read More Here →

Today Garmin introduced an updated version of its Vivosmart lineup, the Vivosmart 3. This essentially takes the Vivosmart HR that we saw last year (aka Vivosmart Gen2) and shrinks it down. Then they layered in a bunch of new heart … Read More Here →

Today Garmin announced their latest triathlon/multisport…and running-specific focused watch, the Forerunner 935. This watch follows almost a year after the FR735XT was announced last spring, and only 3 months after the Fenix 5 series was announced in January (which just … Read More Here →

It’s been nearly three months since Garmin first announced the Fenix 5 series, a lineup of three core watch sizes/models (5/5S/5X), that spans 14 variants in total. And that’s before we even talk straps. This line builds upon the Fenix … Read More Here →

In virtually every post or video I make where I use an action cam, I’m asked which camera I’m using and why. And even more commonly since this past fall I’m asked whether to go with the GoPro Hero5 Black … Read More Here →

A day or 13 ago, Garmin announced their new Forerunner 35 (FR35) GPS. But with Eurobike in full swing, I put it on the back burner a bit until the dust settled. Now that things have cleared out a bit, … Read More Here →

Last week, Garmin announced and released their newest action cam – the VIRB Ultra 30. To summarize this 50-million word in-depth review in the most succinct manner possible: Someone at Garmin finally got it. They created what might possibly best … Read More Here →

Well then, someone in Kansas is feeling ballsy today. Garmin has just announced three new Fenix units, starting from $900 and topping out at $1,500USD. Or, if you’re so fortunate to be living in the land of maple syrup, it’ll … Read More Here →

Today Garmin announced their latest cycling computer – the Edge 820. Well, actually, they announced two cycling computers: The Edge 820 and the Edge Explore 820. The Explore is simply the dumbed down version of the 820. While the Edge … Read More Here →

It’s been almost exactly a month since Garmin announced their latest triathlon watch, the Forerunner 735XT. This watch aims to take the software of the larger FR920XT triathlon watch and compress it down into a smaller package. All while also … Read More Here →

It’s been a few months since Garmin announced the Vivoactive HR while at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The unit started shipping last month and I’ve been wearing it on my wrist 24x7 since then. The Vivoactive HR sits in Garmin’s mid-range watch pricing … Read More Here →

They grow up so fast. Less than two years ago the original Vivosmart was a slightly awkward and kinda scrawny activity band. It’s dim display hardly living up to its fitness features. Then just this past fall came the Vivosmart … Read More Here →

Every once in a while in the DCR Review Realm I go ahead and pull out a slightly longer review cycle. This would be one of those times. In this case, I’ve used the Garmin VIRB X & XE action … Read More Here →

Last month at CES in Las Vegas, Garmin introduced their most advanced wearable device with an optical heart rate (HR) sensor in it – the Fenix3 HR. This device took Garmin’s Elevate optical HR sensor and added it to their … Read More Here →

Update June 2016: My in-depth review of the Vivoactive HR is now available. Swing on over to that post for all the details! On Friday Garmin announced their new Vivoactive HR & Vivofit 3. As you’ll remember, my post was … Read More Here →

It’s been a few months since Garmin announced their Index WiFi Scale (at $149), so it’s time to dive in on an in-depth review and see how things have shaped up. Most importantly: Is the scale worth the premium over … Read More Here →

A few weeks ago GoPro sorta-announced a new action cam. Sorta being the operative word here. Unlike most GoPro announcement occurrences, this was more of a formalized naming and acknowledgment of existence. It included roughly as much information as an … Read More Here →

In virtually every post or video I make where I use an action cam, I’m asked which camera I’m using and why. And even more commonly since this past fall I’m asked whether to go with the GoPro Hero5 Black … Read More Here →

(Update: Feb 1st, 2017: GoPro has resumed shipping of the Karma drone following it's earlier recall. There is no difference between the pre and post-recall drones from a hardware or software features standpoint, except changes to the battery clip to … Read More Here →

It’s been two years since the last major GoPro Hero launch. No, I don’t count the Session last year. I’m talking about a multi-camera launch like GoPro has typically done each fall for the majority of its history. Back in … Read More Here →

Update: Go see my full GoPro Hero5 Black In-Depth Review here! Today GoPro announced three new action cameras, a drone, and a rather interesting flotilla of accessories. These include a handheld gimbal, external microphone/remote combos, and even a nifty $19 … Read More Here →

Last month GoPro announced a handful of new mounts, three of which were focused on cycling. This would actually be the first time that GoPro has directly released a bike-specific mount (let alone three of them). In the past, they had … Read More Here →

I know, approximately 97% of you are looking at the title right now and going “Who the fudge is Feiyu Tech?” And then about 65% of you are saying “What the heck is a gimbal?” (and is it related to a gumball?). Fear … Read More Here →

It’s been about almost three months since GoPro announced their Hero4 Session action cam. The unit made headlines due to its small size compared to existing GoPro units. Yet this past Monday, they made the logical decision to drop the price … Read More Here →

Today GoPro announced its latest action camera, the GoPro HERO+ LCD. This marks the first time GoPro has done an ‘off-cycle’ release of a new camera product, as the company has historically released new action cams in the September/October timeframe. … Read More Here →

(Note: Review updated March 10th, 2015, inclusive of most recent firmware updates) Early last month GoPro completed their annual October ritual of releasing a suite of new units. Like past years, GoPro doesn’t tend to make massive upgrades in their … Read More Here →

Back at CES 2014 in January Scosche introduced their first dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart unit, the RHYTHM+. This optical sensor armband would transmit both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart concurrently to any compatible device. Unlike most other units that were announced that … Read More Here →

It’s been almost a year since the LifeBeam SMART helmet hit the interwebs via a Kickstarter crowd-funded effort. Since then they’ve iterated through prototypes, status updates, and then ultimately a few months back – delivery of the actual product. It … Read More Here →

Here at Outdoor Retailer this week Magellan has announced their latest incarnation of the Magellan Echo line, the Echo Fit. The Echo fit builds upon the original Magellan Echo (which was released about this time last year) and adds in … Read More Here →

This past summer Magellan became the first company to announce a running-focused smart watch. And 10 days ago, they became the first company to actually ship said type of watch. While there have been many smart watches (especially as of late), … Read More Here →

The Switch and Switch Up watches are ones of a rare breed of triathlon and multi-sport specific watches that demand three times the complexity of a running watch. How does this unit handle the demands? Let's dig in and find out.

This past summer Mio announced two new products to their lineup – the Mio Fuse and the Mio Velo. These products just recently started shipping in the past few weeks, giving me an opportunity to use the final hardware and … Read More Here →

Today, Mio announced their newest product, the dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart optical heart rate wrist band: Mio Link. This new product is about half the size of their previous product (the Alpha), and transmits across both protocols. This is notable as … Read More Here →

(Please Note: This product has been discontinued by Motorola Mobility, which is now owned by Google.) As I noted two days ago, the Motorola Motoactv has completely and totally changed the face of sports watches…literally overnight. Upon its initial release … Read More Here →

The Navi2Coach cycling computer may very well be one of the first GPS-enabled bike computers that aims to compete against every aspect of the Garmin Edge 500, from customization of data fields to advanced training metrics. But can this first-time … Read More Here →

Over the past couple of years, Polar has been continuing to iterate on their optical HR sensor design. While Garmin and Fitbit (for example) have mostly kept to the same design and slowly iterated and improved it with minor changes, … Read More Here →

Just over a week ago Polar announced their latest wearable – the Polar A370. This new unit took the hardware of the Polar A360 that was released about 18 months ago and plopped in a few new features like continuous … Read More Here →

Today is shaping up to be a rather busy day for announcements! Polar joined the Wednesday new products club with its new M460 bike GPS. This bike computer builds on the M450 unit they announced almost two years ago. Both … Read More Here →

It’s been a touch bit over two months since Polar announced their first Android Wear device, the M600 GPS-enabled watch. This running/lifestyle/not-triathlon focused watch was not only unique in Polar’s stable for being Android Wear, but for also including features … Read More Here →

Today Polar announced its latest device – the M200, which is a budget focused running GPS watch, but one complete with optical heart rate, smartphone notifications, and even structured training options. All at $149/149EUR. Or, $189 if you want to … Read More Here →

Today Polar announced their latest wearable, and in the process also signaled a shift in direction to a far more open platform than they’ve ever had in their 39 year history. The Polar M600 takes the best of their M400 … Read More Here →

Today Polar announced that they’ve joined the weight scale club and are now making their own Bluetooth Smart scale. This scale integrates straight into the Polar Flow ecosystem. You step on the scale, and it then syncs to your phone, … Read More Here →

It’s been about a month since Polar announced their latest wearable – the A360. This would be their first entrant into the optical HR sensor world, a key milestone for a company that’s effectively built its entire reputation and company … Read More Here →

Heads up! I've now posted my full A360 In-Depth Review, which can be viewed here! Enjoy! Earlier today Polar announced their latest wearable, the A360. More notably – it marks the first Polar product to include an optical heart rate … Read More Here →

I just wanted to very briefly cover two new products that have been announced in the last 24 hours. Neither one really warrants a standalone post – especially since neither company has samples available on-hand (or rather, in my hands). … Read More Here →

The A300 Overview: This weekend ahead of CES here in Las Vegas, Polar has announced their latest activity tracking watch, the A300. This watch aims to take the M400 GPS watch, remove the GPS part, and then call it the … Read More Here →

Today, Polar has announced their latest watch, the M400. This running focused GPS watch also contains day to day activity tracking (i.e. steps and sleep) along with smartphone connectivity. The unit priced at $179US/€159EUR, is very competitively placed in the … Read More Here →

Today Polar announced their first dedicated GPS bike computer – the V650. The unit combines integrated GPS with a full color touch screen, it also becomes the first bike-specific computer to be Bluetooth Smart sensor capable. This marks the second … Read More Here →

The Polar Loop is the very first daily activity tracker on the market that not only counts steps, but also connects to a separate heart rate strap – providing you with heart-rate based calorie information for activities. This changes the … Read More Here →

Earlier this week Polar announced their latest product – though, it’s not a watch. Or even anything connected to a watch. Instead, it’s an accessory for smart phones that further illuminates Polar’s direction and protocol strategy going forward. The Bluetooth … Read More Here →

Late last week, Polar released their first iPhone App – Polar Beat. The app aims to bridge the gap between their dedicated devices and the phone market. Most importantly however, it’s actually the first Bluetooth Smart compatible offering from them. … Read More Here →

The Polar Look Keo Power System is the first pedal based power meter to make it to market, meaning, you can actually go out and buy one. Announced nearly two years ago, the units finally started trickling out into the … Read More Here →

The Polar RCX3 was announced a little over a month ago, though, the unit won’t be available until this summer. The RCX3 is designed to be the RCX5’s younger sibling. A bit cheaper, though with fewer features. It’s a clean … Read More Here →

While the Polar RCX5 was officially released yesterday, I’ve actually been playing with it now for over a month – getting the change to put it through its paces in hundreds upon hundreds of miles of real world running, cycling … Read More Here →

Over the course of the summer we’ve seen both Garmin and Favero roll out new pedal power meters. In Garmin’s case they’ve got their third generation Vector 3 pedals, while in Favero’s case they have their Assioma units, which are … Read More Here →

It’s been about three months since Favero announced their next generation power meter pedals, the Assioma. These pedals would build upon the BePro units of two years ago, doing away with the complicated installation process while also adding in Bluetooth … Read More Here →

Today Garmin announced their third generation of power meters, Vector 3. This new unit brings sweeping changes both easily seen outside, but also internally as well. In fact, I’d argue the internal changes are far more important than the new … Read More Here →

I know, you’re confused. You’re thinking to yourself – didn’t he just review the Power2Max NG last month? And indeed, I did. But this isn’t the Power2Max NG. It’s the Power2Max NG ECO. Well, that’s a different beast. The ECO … Read More Here →

Last August at Eurobike, Power2Max announced their latest power meter – the Power2Max NG. This power meter would be their first unit with dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, while also tweaking their underlying measurement design to increase accuracy. While they had anticipated … Read More Here →

Earlier this week bePro announced their 2nd generation power meter. Well, actually, they didn’t. A company called Favero announced something called the Assioma, which is the successor to the bePro power meter pedals announced almost exactly two years ago. See … Read More Here →

Over the last few years, ROTOR has been slowly increasing both the quantity of power meters they make – as well as the types of power meters they make. It first started with the original ROTOR Power LT some three … Read More Here →

This past summer at Eurobike, Quarq announced their latest generation of power meters, the DZero lineup. The aim of this line was to refresh the existing offerings, while also somewhat simplifying things. Most visible to consumers though was the addition … Read More Here →

It’s been a few years since WatTeam first jumped onto the power meter scene. Back in the summer of 2014 they boldly exclaimed their plans to ship a dual left/right power meter solution for $499 – breaking what is largely … Read More Here →

While there are many power meter options being touted these days, it’s a different matter to actually get something shipped to consumers. And to do something that’s accurate and trusted (as well as reliable). It’s been a couple of years now … Read More Here →

Once again, it’s time for the annual power meter buyer’s guide. While the last month hasn’t seen a ton of new power meters, if you take the entire year in review, you’ll see it’s been quite busy with not only … Read More Here →

Today, every power meter company in the industry just breathed a huge collective sigh of relief: Shimano did not ultimately decide to baseline their long rumored integrated power meter as part of the Dura-Ace standard offering. Instead, they made it … Read More Here →

Back this past fall the PowerPod power meter was introduced on Kickstarter and funded within a few days. It started shipping a few months later, within a week or two of their planned date (a rarity these days) in late … Read More Here →

It’s been about 8 months since 4iiii began shipping their Precision power meters to buyers, which is a small pod affixed to your crank arm. When the company announced their entrance into the market in September 2014, they had planned … Read More Here →

This past spring, as part of a bunch of announcements, PowerTap announced their C1 chainring power meter. This announcement was coupled with that of the PowerTap P1 pedals, all of which complement their existing PowerTap G3 hub based power meter. … Read More Here →

Power meters tend to be products that I test for the longest duration prior to posting a review. This is often due to wanting to validate products across a wide range of weather and environmental conditions: Heat, humidity, cold, cobbles, … Read More Here →

[Please see my 2016 Edition of the Power Meter Buyers Guide Located here.] Once again, it’s time for the annual power meter buyer's guide. It’s mind-boggling how quickly a year has come and gone, and just how many more entrants … Read More Here →

In many ways, the bePRO power meter is the little unknown underdog that snuck onto the scene earlier this summer with a very simple declaration: We’re here, we’re new, we’re cheap, and we’ve already started shipping. How ‘bout them apples? … Read More Here →

Back this spring PowerTap for the first time announced a power meter that wasn’t in the rear wheel hub. Well, they actually announced two new power meters. The first was the PowerTap P1, which is a pedal based power meter, … Read More Here →

It’s been nearly 3 years since Pioneer seemingly stumbled onto the bike power meter scene. The move by what is primarily an audio/visual company to break into the high end cycling scene was looked at by many as…well…odd. But Pioneer … Read More Here →

It’s been a touch over two years since my last Power2Max product review, for their now-named Classic edition. About a year or so ago they came out with their Type-S editions, which would make for their 3rd generation unit. I’ve … Read More Here →

[Please see my 2016 Edition of the Power Meter Buyers Guide Located here.] How quickly a year has gone by since my last power meter buyers guide. In that time we’ve seen an explosion of new entrants into the power … Read More Here →

Today, at the start of the outdoor portion of Eurobike, Garmin has made two cycling specific announcements. The first is unveiling the Vector S power meter, while the second is announcing upcoming ‘Cycling Dynamics’ metrics that will be applicable to … Read More Here →

ROTOR has officially announced their newest power meter offering, the ROTOR Power LT. The LT stands for ‘lite’, but it could also actually stand for ‘Left’, which is because unlike their higher end power meter the LT is a left-leg … Read More Here →

I suspect in the sports technology world there was no product quite as long awaited as Vector. It’s taken years of attempted delivery dates to get to this past August, when they started shipping production units. Since being equipped with … Read More Here →

I know, you’re confused. You’re thinking to yourself – didn’t he just review the Power2Max NG last month? And indeed, I did. But this isn’t the Power2Max NG. It’s the Power2Max NG ECO. Well, that’s a different beast. The ECO … Read More Here →

Last August at Eurobike, Power2Max announced their latest power meter – the Power2Max NG. This power meter would be their first unit with dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, while also tweaking their underlying measurement design to increase accuracy. While they had anticipated … Read More Here →

It’s been a touch over two years since my last Power2Max product review, for their now-named Classic edition. About a year or so ago they came out with their Type-S editions, which would make for their 3rd generation unit. I’ve … Read More Here →

Over the course of the summer we’ve seen both Garmin and Favero roll out new pedal power meters. In Garmin’s case they’ve got their third generation Vector 3 pedals, while in Favero’s case they have their Assioma units, which are … Read More Here →

Today CycleOps has announced their latest trainer product, the Hammer. Taking a cue from others in the industry on having a catchy name, the Hammer is CycleOps’s first totally new trainer in a few years. And also their first direct … Read More Here →

This past spring, as part of a bunch of announcements, PowerTap announced their C1 chainring power meter. This announcement was coupled with that of the PowerTap P1 pedals, all of which complement their existing PowerTap G3 hub based power meter. … Read More Here →

Back this spring PowerTap for the first time announced a power meter that wasn’t in the rear wheel hub. Well, they actually announced two new power meters. The first was the PowerTap P1, which is a pedal based power meter, … Read More Here →

This past summer at Eurobike, Quarq announced their latest generation of power meters, the DZero lineup. The aim of this line was to refresh the existing offerings, while also somewhat simplifying things. Most visible to consumers though was the addition … Read More Here →

SRAM RED eTAP has probably been one of the more closely followed sports tech products in the cycling industry as it worked its way to release. Of course, the vast majority of that multi-year journey was through various media spot … Read More Here →

Back in the spring Quarq announced their latest additions to the power meter lineup by unveiling the Riken and Elsa power meters. The Riken unit replaced the previous Cinqo units, while the Elsa units acted as a non-SRAM RED option … Read More Here →

It hasn’t been too long since the $99 Soleus 1.0 GPS watch came out, which has ushered in the start of the sub-$100 GPS watches (like the Timex Marathon GPS). But the Soleus 2.0 adds one specific feature: The ability … Read More Here →

I had heard about the Soleus GPS 1.0 watch a few times over the course of the fall, but with how busy things have been, I just didn’t have the chance to hit up the folks from Soleus and give … Read More Here →

Certain countries are known to have residents with exceedingly long names – in some cases 5-6 words/parts long. Finland however, is not typically one of those countries. But it appears that Suunto is aiming to grab that title in any … Read More Here →

I think Suunto finally got their groove back. After what I’d argue as 1-2 years of being a bit lost, today they’ve nailed it with a product that hits the target audience perfectly and does so at an awesome price. … Read More Here →

Last summer (2016) amidst Suunto announcing the Spartan series, they made note of a planned optical heart rate enabled version that would be released down the road. Fast forward to this past January (2017) and at CES they did just … Read More Here →

It’s been a bit over four months since Suunto started to announce the Spartan series, which contains two watches at present: the Ultra and the Sport. These two watches are set to be the successor models to the rather successful … Read More Here →

About 10 days ago Suunto announced the Ambit 3 Vertical, making it the latest high-end watch from the company, and a continuation of the Ambit lineup. However, with the announcement has come a bit of confusion around what exactly is … Read More Here →

It’s been nearly three months since Suunto announced the Ambit3, though considerably less time since the unit started making its way into the wild with final hardware and firmware. Since well before either of those dates I’ve been testing the … Read More Here →

(My Ambit3 Full In-Depth Review is now published! Swing on over to that post for all the full details and analysis!) This morning Suunto has announced their latest endurance and multisport watch, the Suunto Ambit3. The watch incrementally builds on … Read More Here →

Back in late January Suunto announced their Ambit2 R running-focused watch, which comes as a derivative of the Ambit2 line that was introduced last spring. The 2R aimed to offer a lower price point than the higher end Ambit2 and … Read More Here →

It’s been just over a year since the first Suunto Ambit came out (which for clarity I’ll use the term Ambit1 during this review), and during that time Suunto has made impressive progress on the original unit through a series … Read More Here →

(Please Note: As of April 29th, 2013 there is a new Ambit - the Ambit2 and Ambit2 S. Please check out that review, especially because Suunto has now said no further functionality firmware updates will occur for the original Ambit … Read More Here →

If you’re like me and are constantly on a laptop – there are really two minor issues that I have with the Garmin USB stick that I use to download workouts from my Forerunner to my computer. First up is … Read More Here →

While you may not know it, we’re just at the edge of an indoor bike revolution. Or, at least we are according to some people. No matter whether or not that happens we’re seeing bike trainer companies and others alike … Read More Here →

It’s been just over three months since Tacx announced what was shaping up to be the hottest trainer of the 2016-2017 winter season. You’ll remember that the main appeal of the Tacx Flux was that not only was it a … Read More Here →

This week at Eurobike, Tacx has announced their latest smart trainer, the Tacx Flux. This new trainer sits at the upper edge of the mid-range electronic trainer pricing range at $899USD/€799, but pulls in features historically only seen at higher … Read More Here →

Over the past few weeks Tacx has released two new trainers, the Tacx NEO and the Tacx Genius Smart. While both of these trainers have similar technical capabilities, the actual hardware aspects of them are dramatically different. One (the Genius Smart) … Read More Here →

This morning I spent a bit of time going hands-on with the latest product from Tacx – their iPad training app. In addition, I got details on their upcoming Bluetooth Smart trainers, and their plans to play better and more … Read More Here →

The Tacx Genius Trainer is the latest trainer to work it’s way through my ‘lab’ (aka living room). The high-end trainer is designed to let you simulate just about anything you can think of while on a trainer – including … Read More Here →

The Tacx Bushido Trainer has been on many of your minds over the past year. It represents the first significant and major competitor to the RacerMate CompuTrainer – which has long held the king of the hill position in the … Read More Here →

Earlier today I covered Timex’s just announced flagship running watch – the Timex One GPS+, which contains everything from music storage to 3G connectivity and live tracking. However, that wasn’t the only unit Timex announced today. They also released three … Read More Here →

Today at Outdoor Retailer Timex has announced a slew of new products into the fitness and outdoor market. The four new products range from $99 to $399, and cover everything from basic GPS functionality to a high-end integrated live tracking … Read More Here →

The Timex Marathon GPS unit is the second mainstream sub-$100 GPS watch to hit market in the last few months. As such, it continues the trend set by Soleus with their GPS 1.0 watch back in the fall. These watches … Read More Here →

Update Note: Consider looking at the just released Timex Run Trainer GPS 2.0 edition instead, if you're looking at this watch. Comparisons between the two units are available in that review. With the market for sub-$200 GPS running watches becoming … Read More Here →

When the Timex Global Trainer was announced earlier this year, most folks were quite excited to see a new entrant into the triathlon watch/device scene. With the watches ANT+ capabilities and full waterproofing it would make ideal training partner for … Read More Here →

It’s been about 50 days since I started testing the TomTom Spark watch (also branded as the Runner 2). These were TomTom’s new entrant into the market by combining an optical HR sensor with music and GPS tracking capabilities. In … Read More Here →

Earlier yesterday I had the opportunity to test out the new TomTom Spark GPS watch. This unit is unique in that it includes not only a new optical HR sensor, but also adds in music playback via Bluetooth headphones. Further, … Read More Here →

Today TomTom has announced they’re venturing into the action cam business, with the introduction of the TomTom Bandit. This Twinkie sized action cam contains 2.7K (30FPS) and 4K (15FPS) capabilities, as well as GPS functionality that you’d expect from a … Read More Here →

Today TomTom has announced two new versions of their TomTom GPS watches. These new additions add in optical heart rate monitoring straight into the back of both the TomTom Runner and Multisport GPS watches. The new line – called the … Read More Here →

Earlier this summer Elite announced the Direto, a direct drive trainer that’s fully integrated into the likes of Zwift and TrainerRoad. Priced at $899 it was initially targeted at the mid-range price market, but over the course of the last … Read More Here →

Today Wattbike has introduced their first consumer-focused smart stationary bike. And unlike some of the other ideas floating around – this one is actually real, here today, and with production underway. So much real that a unit has been sitting … Read More Here →

While this Eurobike is a bit quieter when it comes to major new trainers, we do have one item that’s definitely unique coming out of the Wahoo camp: An incline simulator. The new Wahoo CLIMB will raise and lower the … Read More Here →

This week Wahoo quietly launched an updated version of the KICKR SNAP trainer. That’s Wahoo’s lower-end trainer that sits at $599USD. Of course, Wahoo only makes two trainers – the full KICKR (direct-drive), and the KICKR SNAP (wheel-on). The full … Read More Here →

Today Elite announced their newest trainer for the 2017-2018 winter trainer season – the Direto. This direct drive controllable trainer is notable partly for its price ($899), but also partly because it’s sporting easily the highest accuracy rating of any … Read More Here →

It’s Hammer Time. The Hammer is CycleOps’ answer to the highly competitive high-end direct drive trainer realm. Or said differently, it’s their answer to the KICKR. It feels like an eternity ago that the Hammer was announced. In reality though, … Read More Here →

It’s been just over three months since Tacx announced what was shaping up to be the hottest trainer of the 2016-2017 winter season. You’ll remember that the main appeal of the Tacx Flux was that not only was it a … Read More Here →

It’s been two years since I’ve last done a Trainer App guide. And in that time we’ve continued to see the trainer app world expand with ever better options. There are both new companies, and existing companies that have exploded … Read More Here →

How the heck is it fall already? Seriously. It felt like just yesterday I was enjoying warm summer days, yet now I’m sitting here looking out the window onto a rainy, cold, windy, and generally miserable day. I saw snow last … Read More Here →

Earlier this summer Elite launched four new trainers/rollers, and in doing so greatly simplified their trainer lineup. Previous to that they had enough trainers to allow each member of the Brady Bunch both a primary and backup trainer. Never mind … Read More Here →

This week at Eurobike, Tacx has announced their latest smart trainer, the Tacx Flux. This new trainer sits at the upper edge of the mid-range electronic trainer pricing range at $899USD/€799, but pulls in features historically only seen at higher … Read More Here →

As we near trainer season, I’ve seen an uptick in interest in understanding what exactly ANT+ FE-C is, and why it matters when it comes to choosing a trainer (or an app, or a bike computer). So I figured I’d … Read More Here →

Today Italian trainer company Elite joined in on the 2016 Trainer announcements bandwagon with the unveiling of four new indoor training products, including one set of rollers. These announcements marks not just new trainers, but most notably a cleaner and simpler … Read More Here →

Today CycleOps has announced their latest trainer product, the Hammer. Taking a cue from others in the industry on having a catchy name, the Hammer is CycleOps’s first totally new trainer in a few years. And also their first direct … Read More Here →

!!!Update: Looking for a trainer? Check out my new 2016-2017 Winter Trainer Guide here! It’s once again fall in the Northern Hemisphere – which for most of us means transitioning to a more steady diet of trainer rides indoors, keeping … Read More Here →

Over the past few weeks Tacx has released two new trainers, the Tacx NEO and the Tacx Genius Smart. While both of these trainers have similar technical capabilities, the actual hardware aspects of them are dramatically different. One (the Genius Smart) … Read More Here →

BKOOL is here at Eurobike this week and has pushed out a number of updates (both software and hardware), one of which will definitely make (most) existing owners quite happy. As a brief refresher Bkool has historically been one of … Read More Here →

Today Wahoo has launched their latest trainer, the Wahoo KICKR SNAP. The KICKR SNAP is essentially a lower-cost version of the original (and enormously popular) Wahoo KICKR, with a few minor tweaks. For those familiar with the wheel-less KICKR, those … Read More Here →

Today Tacx announced and made available open ANT+ trainer profile support. This support (technically called FE-C, for Fitness Equipment – Controls), allows any 3rd party app to control certain Tacx trainers, as part of their Tacx ‘Smart’ series of trainers. … Read More Here →

After my recent Winter 2014-2015 trainer recommendations post, many of you have been asking about trainer apps. I decided against combining it with the trainer recommendations post in order to give its full due in a standalone post. In retrospect … Read More Here →

It’s that time of year again – trainer season. When it generally gets cold and miserable to be outside, well, unless you live Down Under. I started doing the Trainer Recommendations post two years ago, and I know many of … Read More Here →

This week at Interbike, both CompuTrainer and Kinomap have made a number of announcements around application control and usage with the CompuTrainer trainer. Let’s dive into them. CompuTrainer’s ‘Open Source’ First up is potentially the beginning of CompuTrainer opening up … Read More Here →

Over the past 2 years, Spanish trainer company BKOOL has broken into the resistance controlled trainer market with a lower priced offering that is undercutting some of the mid-range to the edge of the higher end trainers in the market … Read More Here →

Over the last few weeks Tacx has trickled out details on their trainers for the upcoming season. The overall theme of which is dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart compatibility, as well as expanded app operating system compatibility and integration. I’ll start by … Read More Here →

Today at Interbike BKOOL made a slew of announcements related to their trainer platform. In doing so they’re adding themselves to a growing chorus of companies that are adopting standards around indoor training and the software and devices that are … Read More Here →

While this Eurobike is a bit quieter when it comes to major new trainers, we do have one item that’s definitely unique coming out of the Wahoo camp: An incline simulator. The new Wahoo CLIMB will raise and lower the … Read More Here →

It’s that time of year again – new trainer season. Or more precisely, just about the end of new trainer announcement. Wahoo’s been busy this summer between the new KICKR SNAP announced last month, as well as the new Wahoo … Read More Here →

This week Wahoo quietly launched an updated version of the KICKR SNAP trainer. That’s Wahoo’s lower-end trainer that sits at $599USD. Of course, Wahoo only makes two trainers – the full KICKR (direct-drive), and the KICKR SNAP (wheel-on). The full … Read More Here →

Just about one year after Wahoo started shipping the Wahoo ELEMNT, they’re back at it again with a new and smaller variant – the Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT. Now like their competitors, this unit isn’t designed as a successor, but rather … Read More Here →

Today at Interbike, Wahoo is taking the next logical step in the indoor training realm: Offering a cycling studio package. This offering, aimed initially at the North American market, is targeted at bike shops and indoor trainer studios that want … Read More Here →

It’s been exactly 30 days since Wahoo started shipping their first GPS bike computer, the Wahoo ELEMNT. The unit was announced last year at Interbike in September, and while they had planned to have it in your hands by Christmas, … Read More Here →

One tiny step at a time Wahoo is slowly increasing their fitness related turf. This week at CES, they announced the GymConnect System, which allows you to control your treadmill and get it talking over ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart to … Read More Here →

It’s been over 5 years since Wahoo’s first product, the Wahoo Fisica ANT+ adapter for the iPhone. That was later renamed to the Wahoo Fitness Key. Then came the BlueHR, a Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap. But their ‘breakout’ product … Read More Here →

Heads up April 2016 - Update! My Wahoo ELEMNT In-Depth review post is now available and published over here. Definitely swing over for all the details! Wahoo has made their first entrant into the GPS bike computer world, with ELEMNT … Read More Here →

Today Wahoo has launched their latest trainer, the Wahoo KICKR SNAP. The KICKR SNAP is essentially a lower-cost version of the original (and enormously popular) Wahoo KICKR, with a few minor tweaks. For those familiar with the wheel-less KICKR, those … Read More Here →

Overview Today, Wahoo Fitness announced three new products for the fitness market, and in doing so, started what they describe as a new push towards cross-platform support. The three products are all heart-rate strap based, but with different (cumulative) features … Read More Here →

Last night Wahoo Fitness unveiled the next edition of their bike computer – the RFLKT+ (pronounced Reflect Plus). The RFLKT+ builds upon the previous RFLKT unit that was announced about a year ago by adding in native ANT+ bridging functionality … Read More Here →

(Updated January 15th, 2016: Overhauled sections include pros/cons, summary, various minor items throughout post). The Wahoo KICKR is probably the most anticipated trainer to hit the market in quite a while, if not one of the most anticipated sports technology products … Read More Here →

There’s a new sensor in town, and for a change, this one isn’t ANT+. Instead, it’s a new Bluetooth Smart (aka Bluetooth Low Energy) sensor, one designed to track your speed and cadence information while on a bike. Following the … Read More Here →

(April 2013 note: While I reviewed this back in the spring of 2010, the product has since released and is supported by more than 150 apps on the iPhone/iPod platform. Since then I continue to use it quite a bit … Read More Here →

Back in June Withings announced two new WiFi scales, though only one of them really got any attention – the new Body Cardio scale. I wrote up a bit of a preview post back then, but needed more time to … Read More Here →

Update: My Full In-Depth Review for both the Withings Body and Body Cardio scales can be found here! Today Withings released their WiFi scale, the Withings Body Cardio along with the new Withings Body scale (sans-Cardio). Like all past Withings … Read More Here →

It’s been a few months since Garmin announced their Index WiFi Scale (at $149), so it’s time to dive in on an in-depth review and see how things have shaped up. Most importantly: Is the scale worth the premium over … Read More Here →

Today Under Armour has announced a flotilla of fitness products, likely to take the cake for the most unique fitness products announced by one company at the show this week. They’ve done so by partnering with HTC and delivering a … Read More Here →

Back in June Withings announced two new WiFi scales, though only one of them really got any attention – the new Body Cardio scale. I wrote up a bit of a preview post back then, but needed more time to … Read More Here →

Update: My Full In-Depth Review for both the Withings Body and Body Cardio scales can be found here! Today Withings released their WiFi scale, the Withings Body Cardio along with the new Withings Body scale (sans-Cardio). Like all past Withings … Read More Here →

As expected the early part of CES week saw a lot of new product announcements. There are lots of new players on the field with some innovative new products (and some obvious knock-offs and re-makes of existing technologies); but also … Read More Here →

Connected scales are all the rage these days. And for good reason – they make it easy to log your weight. More importantly though, they make it hard to pretend nothing happened. So as you rolled out of bed this … Read More Here →

It’s been well over a year since Withings released their initial Activité smart watch, which they then followed up last winter with the cheaper Activité Pop version. Of course – looking at both watches at a glance you wouldn’t realize … Read More Here →

Overview: Late last week Withings announced their latest device – the Withings Activité, which combined an activity tracker into a more normal looking high-end designer watch. This would in effect be pulling in much of their existing Withings Pulse activity … Read More Here →

Almost a year ago Withings announced the Withings Pulse activity tracker at CES 2013. However, it wasn’t made available until this past summer, when I started testing it. Like most activity trackers it did all the usual items – steps, … Read More Here →

I’m just gonna say it upfront – this is perhaps the most well put together and thought out device and set of services I’ve reviewed yet. I know, it sounds funny given it’s ‘just a scale’, but – it’s a … Read More Here →

Other Reviews

As Interbike kicks off you’ll see a slew of both mainstream as well as smaller companies try and get your attention with new products. Some of these will be products that you genuinely find useful and plan to buy, and … Read More Here →

It’s time. Again. Because, well, it’s been a long time since the last time. Plus, The Girl will be joining me this time! Tomorrow (aka this Friday) I’ll get be hosting a Facebook Live Q&A session for anything you’ve got … Read More Here →

Late last summer at Eurobike, Stages announced a new product line from the company with the addition of their Dash bike computer. But in many ways it’s more than just one product line, but rather an entire collection of products. … Read More Here →

When the Acer Xplova X5 was announced last year, it got a lot of attention for its headline-grabbing features: An integrated action camera, cellular connectivity, full color touchscreen with maps, and integrated nacho cheese dispenser. Well, maybe not the dispenser. … Read More Here →

It’s now been a few months since Apple released their second generation watches, both the Apple Watch Series 2 and the Nike+ Edition. These watches built upon the initial Apple Watch first generation units by adding GPS capabilities and improved … Read More Here →

Back in February of 2016 Garmin purchased U.S. based GPS device and map maker DeLorme. In the press release of that acquisition Garmin specifically called out Delorme’s inReach two-way satellite communication devices. Those devices packed a unique capability that allowed the … Read More Here →

Caught up in the announcement of the all new Garmin Fenix 5 series this morning was the release of a host of new Connect IQ apps, watch faces, and data fields. Garmin is making available for download apps from Uber, … Read More Here →

Preemptive note! Don't forget my massive 2016 Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals page here. I've been updating it every few hours all day today with new deals, and expect to continue to update it constantly throughout the next few days. One … Read More Here →

(Before we start, you can find my Holiday 2016 deals post here, expect a massive churn on that post over the next 5-7 days, as we go through both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This guide attempts as best as … Read More Here →

The COROS Smart Helmet hit Kickstarter about 4 weeks ago, and I’ve been lucky enough to have a unit for the last few weeks. The company is far enough along that the unit I was handed to try is essentially … Read More Here →

Update - Aug 20th, 2017: Warning - BSX has discontinued sales of the BSX Insight product line, and plans to discontinue the platform as of August or September 2018. After which point it's unclear what, if any, portion of the … Read More Here →

We’re at kind of an odd place right now with the rapid developmental pace of sports technology. What we see happening is a misalignment of the hardware/software technology and the scientific and practical use cases for that technology. An … Read More Here →

Introduction: (Before we start, you can find my Black Friday deals post here, expect a massive update of products on sale on Thursday morning when many deals kick off. This guide attempts to as best as possible take into account … Read More Here →

I’ve been using the Fly6 (Generation 2) for the better part of a year now. While I wrote an initial preview last year of the Generation 1 model, it was just that – a preview. I figured it was about … Read More Here →

A nice relaxing weekend back home in Paris – here’s what I was up to! 1) Paris Roller For some three years now I’ve seen the Friday night festivus that is Paris Roller. It’s when every Friday evening hundreds to … Read More Here →

Two weeks ago week I outlined every piece of gear that I regularly use in my day to day training or racing. Not the stuff that I review for products, but rather, the goods that I always turn back to once … Read More Here →

This past weekend I spent three days using the Zeal HD2 goggles. These goggles have a built-in action camera in the upper edge of them, making them potentially perfect for recording your slope adventures. It includes both photo and video … Read More Here →

While standing around chatting when we briefly crossed paths on the running leg of the first ever Las Vegas 140.6 yesterday, Ray and I noticed the Misfit booth conveniently situated adjacent to the Polar booth. We flipped a virtual coin, … Read More Here →

The big catchphrase at CES this year is Internet of Things, and we’re now seeing that marketing prophecy manifest itself in all manner of wearable and non-wearable items. One in particular that caught my eye was this sensor-laden interactive yoga … Read More Here →

(Before we start, my Black Friday post will hit tomorrow and be updated throughout the week. This listing attempts to as best as possible take into account those price changes.) It’s that time of year where tons of folks are … Read More Here →

Every once in a while an endurance sports product comes out that piques my interest, even if it’s not directly a sports technology item. A perfect example of that would be the Redshift Aero system. I’ve followed it since they … Read More Here →

(Update: My Summer 2014 Recommendations are now available! Go check that out instead!) Each year around this time I put together my recommendations on sports gadgets. Some consider this a bit of a holiday pick-list, and others just use it … Read More Here →

It’s that time of year again – trainer season. At least for us poor saps up in the Northern Hemisphere (no, you don’t count if you live in the Caribbean). I started doing the Trainer Recommendations post last year, and … Read More Here →

Back last month when I posted my ‘Saint Malo Fort Swimaround’ post, a number of folks asked about the swim buoy I was using to increase my visibility. It confused me at first, because I thought I had posted a … Read More Here →

5 Easy Steps To The Site

You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you're trying to decide which unit to buy - check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.

It turns out I’ve written a fair bit of stuff over the past few years – and after it disappears from my front page, a lot of it never really sees the light of day again without Google’ing skillz. Or a photographic memory…which I don’t have. I’ve taken a look back and found stuff that...continues to find a trickle of readers via web searches or forum links.

I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.